For our meeting on February 1, in a presentation thankfully not challenged by technological issues, club member and past club president Del Benson outlined for us his Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) journey through life. He started out with two visual aids: a black and white T-shirt that emphasizes the fact that DEI is not black and white but rather has all the shades of gray; and a preserved cow patty which he received on being awarded his PhD, emphasizing the fact that DEI requires looking at people in all levels of society and all levels and types of economic activity. He then set the tone for the rest of the talk by recalling the World-War-I story of the spontaneous one-evening “armistice” on Christmas eve when all of the soldiers on both sides laid down their arms and celebrated the spirit of the season by fraternizing between the trenches; this was terrible for fighting morale because the men of both sides got to see the face of the enemy.
Last week our speaker was Jim Tolstrup, the Director of The High Plains Environmental Center (HPEC) in Loveland, CO a “unique model for preserving native biodiversity in the midst of development.”
After an “interesting” introduction by Bill Timpson and a reluctant Del Benson our speaker described the center as 76 acres of trails lined with native vegetation including 2 lakes located in one of the driest areas in North America.
Rotary Club of Fort Collins honored its first cadet in 2023 during the 25 January lunch meeting. Air Force Cadet Scott Wilson was selected by ROTC cadre to receive the Rotary Cadet of the Month Award - January 2023. Scott is a sophomore majoring in Electrical Engineering at CSU. He is a Colorado Springs native that has displayed perseverance with tenacity as he continues to navigate the ROTC curriculum. During this semester, Scott is not only receiving training with his classmates that will enable them to succeed in Field Training this coming summer, but actively sharing his existing knowledge about the training and leading his peers from the ranks through the training. With an eye on graduating and commissioning in 2026, Scott desires to serve in the Space Operations career field. Congratulations and Rotary’s best wishes for success!!!
On a Wednesday, January 18th, 2022, challenged by heavy snowfall and Lincoln-Center internet problems, John Bidwell, an HP retiree and guest of Stacy Plemmons, gave us a last-minute informal but very interesting and informative presentation on electric vehicles. Mr. Bidwell has invested significant effort and time, much of it post-retirement, in understanding and working on electric vehicles, especially motorcycles, partly resulting in several patents and performance records. For a long time, he believed that lithium-ion batteries would always be too small to be effective in the transport sector, but once Tesla demonstrated that this was not ultimately the case, he has been working on electric propulsion and firmly believes that electric vehicles are the wave of the future.
Chanda Burd is the Teacher of the Month of January 2023 for the Rotary Club of Fort Collins. Chanda is a teacher of mathematics at Preston Middle School. She is master teacher at several grade levels up to and including algebra II, and she works well with both individuals and small groups.
Last week we got an update on one our club’s favorite venues – The Farm at Lee Martinez Park, from the Recreation Supervisor, Bridget Brownell. The project started as the vision of HR Phillips, Fort Collins Director of Parks and Recreation. His idea of teaching the growing cities’ inhabitants about farms and farming received pushback at the time because much of Ft Collins was involved in, or close to farms. Because of his persistence land for the Park was purchased in 1973 although it wasn’t until 1985 that the Farm started to become what we know today as a source of education, hands-on experience and family fun (especially for kids). Art Wilcox was the next force behind its further development, especially what would become today’s interactive museum.
